There are several of us any given Sunday. I am the youngest, at thirty, and the oldest is in her seventies.
Most of them have grandchildren. I have a five-month-old baby.
They have been there; they have experienced the sleepless nights; they know the struggles and sorrows and joys and victories that are new to me every day in this journey of motherhood.
We share stories, and concerns, and laughter.
We share what God is teaching us in His Word.
We learn and grow and seek and find– even now they are growing– and they encourage me in their faithfulness to the God who bids them, in every season of life, to change.
And they pray.
I have never before been part of a group of such prayer warriors.
God uses them daily to convict me.
Sometimes I feel like I have access to a secret magic formula to having prayers answered– these ladies who prayed that my arthritis wouldn’t flare up while we were on vacation (my arthritis felt better while we were on vacation than it had in months). I asked them to pray that I would have wisdom in teaching Little One to sleep through the night, and she has been sleeping through more and more often.
They are not the secret formula.
There is no secret formula. There is only prayer.
They are women who in the course of long lives of loving and serving God have learned the power of prayer, and they have trained themselves to faithfully pray.
And in doing so, they have blessed me so greatly.
This class– these mentors, leaders, teachers, prayer warriors, friends— they are the gift I am unwrapping today.
Together for Good 
I like the idea of all of these women of different ages with different life experiences coming together and praying for each other, supporting each other. What a beautiful thing.
beautiful.
i too have been the recipient of such beautiful, praying, gone before me women. what a blessing they are!
i hope to follow their lead.
last year i hosted a party to celebrate the godly women in my life.
http://jonesidosio.blogspot.com/2008/04/add-to-beauty.html
What a beautiful tribute to these women you’ve written. And a beautiful tribute to God. And along with that, a beautiful reminder to me about the power of prayer. I needed this today, and I am grateful to you for providing it.
This is not just a good thing, it is a Biblical thing. I think that we have convinced ourselves that the “generation gap” renders relationships between older and younger believers irrelevant, and so we separate them into different programs, allow the twain to never meet, and rob ourselves of resources God has intended for us to have. What a shame. And what a good thing when we do it right and grow because of it. (And what an especially good thing when it’s your daughter who’s benefiting.)
You are so blessed to have such wonderful, godly women in your life. I wish I had a group like yours!
What a blessing that you have such a great Sunday school class!!!
thanks so much for your post. i love that you get to be a part of their lives, and they, yours. what gifts, what gifts. oh, the gift of friendship…it is one of the best God ever gave.
thanks for your encouraging word picture to me. it is a blessing to feel like He does know them each by name. blessings…
You know ,I feel this way about this blog community.
It’s like we’re all staring at the same moon sometimes.. hoping
Oh what a gift you have. Some of my best friends have been older women, but so many of them have gone home to the Lord. I miss those friendships now.
I hope I grow up to be like these ladies.
I feel similarly about my small study group — a group of 8 or so of us who get together weekly to read and discuss the Bible. I resisted joining for so long…I really stepped out of the box in doing so –and it’s changed my life.
Thanks for commenting on Graceful today — I’m glad to meet you!
I believe that these women are the ones who inspire the Proverbs 31 woman. The honor is that we are graced with the privilege of knowing them here on Earth. 🙂
Great post. I live in a neighborhood that is predominantly Mormon (like me), and there are many widowed women that have lived here for 65 years. I call them the sentinels. I love their examples of strength and devotion.
I too, love my Titus 2 ladies!
such a beautiful gift to unwrap… and to be in the midst of!
What a precious time with these ladies! I didn’t get a chance to comment yesterday, but I read this, and it blessed me so much. I have often found myself a little discontented because most of the women at my church are so much older than me, or at least in very different life stages, but you reminded me what a tremendous blessing that can be. 🙂
What a blessing! Being in Bible study with wonderful, praying women has been my lifeline at times. I hope you share this beautiful writing with them. They will be so honored and encouraged. Blessings!
Thanks for sharing about these women! Prayer is powerful. I’m so glad you left a comment on my blog the other day so I could find yours and read this post. It’s encouraging to be reminded that every day we have an opportunity to grow deeper in our faith 🙂
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